Two Southern Boys: War and Peace, Blog Style…

I know, I know, I haven't blogged in what probably seems like ages to you, and I'm sure each and everyone one of you are just dying inside to know what's been going on with the Freaney Gang. Well, we have been very busy bees here in the Freaney household. Between keeping up with the normal day to day hub bub, keeping a baby and his puppy brother happy we thought we'd added a trip to Ohio, a baptism, Christmas and visitors to the mix. To say things have been crazy in this house would be a serious understatement. As of today things are back to normal and back into the swing of our regular routine.

With that being said, go grab yourself a snack (maybe throw dinner in the crock pot,) make a drink and buckle in for a novel.

The rush to meet Santa here in Atlanta begins in August. No. Joke. The "good" Santa is at Phipps, the high end mall here in Atlanta. In order to see Santa you have to register in August in hopes to get the magical email that tells you had been selected to meet the big man himself, if and when you get the email you then select your date and time. We must have been in the later round of emails because our only dates to meet Santa were in the beginning of November. Since Landon is so little I knew that he'd look like a completely different baby if he had his picture taken in the beginning of November. So, I took the risk, forgoing our appointment and hoping that maybe we could snag one of the coveted canceled appointments. After several days of calling to no avail, Kevin and I finally struck gold. We had gotten a canceled appointment to meet Santa. I was so excited you'd think that someone told me I was meeting the real deal and he was giving me a brand new Prada. The entire time we waited in line Landon was as chipper as could be, laughing and smiling. However, we are now on the verge of stranger danger and he was not so sure of what he thought of this man we call Santa. As you can tell by his face.

We have a six month old baby! A whole half year. Where. Is. Time. Going???? I had a feeling that with the holidays that the 6th month would creep up on us. I just didn't think that it would come so fast. I know I say this every month but I just can't believe the time goes by as quickly as it does. Wasn't he just in my uterus last week???

I love being 6 months! What's my puppy doing?

We decided to go ahead and have Landon take 6 month photos. We were so so excited to have the photographer capture our happy, giggly son. However, Landon had other plans for our photo shoot and things did not go as planned. In the information packet for 6 month photos the first thing she said, is that the baby really needs to be able to sit on their own to get the type of pictures you want. Landon can sit by himself for short periods of time, long enough for someone to snap a couple pictures. Unfortunately Landon took a massive spill at the beginning of the shoot and DID NOT recover. He was not a happy camper, which made it very difficult for the photographer. Kev and I were so embarrassed and we were sweating bullets trying everything we could think of to get him to smile. Nothing worked. Some how though, the photographer must have been a magician because his photos turned out wonderful! I'm so glad we decided to do them.

My absolute favorite.

This is what he was really like the entire 45 minutes.

Before we left for Ohio Landon had his 6 month check up. The doctor was pleased with Landon's development. Our chunker weighed in at 18 pounds 8 ounces. That put him in the 73 percentile. He's 27 inches long and in the 92 percentile. Overall, Landon is the average size of a 9 month old baby. Maybe he should slow down on the growing! My goodness! It's a good thing he is outfitted with an entire new wardrobe of new clothes because a lot of things are going into the "too small box."

Because we were traveling to Ohio for Christmas we decided we would exchange gifts before we left. We knew Santa would leave a few things for Landon in Ohio, so we weren't too worried that he'd feel sad on Christmas morning. He was a pro at opening the presents, and true to a 6 month old he was more interested in the wrapping paper than the actual gift.

Don't worry Landon, your brother is happy to help you unwrap your gifts!

After the craziness with our flight to Ohio for my sister's wedding we decided that we would need a serious prescription of zanex if we flew with not only a 6 month old baby but also his puppy brother. Between the flight, renting a car, and figuring out the logistics of getting an ungodly amount of Christmas gifts for Landon back to Atlanta, it just made sense to pack up the SUV and road trip it. I have to say that we were really nervous about how driving with the boys for 12 hours would go. Vedder tends to get car sick, Landon is a baby who we knew would inevitably scream, we know it could get ugly and be a very long, miserable 12 hours. We went in expecting the worst, prepared for anything, and thankfully we were pleasantly surprised by both boys. On the trip up we stopped in Cincinnati to stay with my good friend Ashley. It's about an 8 hour drive to Cincinnati so we figured it'd be a good gage to see if we could make the journey straight through to go back to Atlanta. The stop was not only nice because we got to visit with good friends but we felt a lot more confident about the ride home.

Hanging out in the car! What a trooper!!

On the 22nd we had Landon baptized at my family's church in Ravenna. It was so meaningful to not only have Landon baptized in the same church my sister and I were, but also to have the person who married Kevin and I preform the baptism. We were so very lucky to have so much family there to support Landon on this special day. Words cannot express how much it meant to the three of us to have so many there. He's one lucky fella, that Landon!

Looking all spiffy in his baptism outfit.

The rest of our time in Ohio went by like a blur. There was a lot of time spent packing ourselves up for the day, getting in a car and trying to see as many people while we were in town as possible. It was really rather stressful. Thankfully I'm not pregnant this Christmas season and I was able to have a glass of wine or two to aid in my sanity. Overall, Our first Christmas with Landon was great. We had so much fun with all our friends and family. Landon, needless to say was spoiled rotten. He received enough toys to sufficiently fill up a cabinet in the living room, and enough 9 month clothes to outfit an entire day care for 2 months. Best of all, was seeing the joy and happiness this little babe brought to everyone this Christmas. Everything seemed so much more light, fun and magical this year.

Visiting Grandma Freaney on Christmas Eve

Puppy brother is bouncing around somewhere!

Doggie made a guest appearance!

Of course we left milk and cookies out for Santa at our hotel, I even made sure we had a little tree!

Santa came to our hotel!

Landon Clause opening the first of many presents at Grandmas Freaney's!

Someone was pooped from his busy Christmas day!

Merry Christmas!

Gram with her Great Grandson, Grandson, and Daughter

Shortly after we returned to Atlanta, my mom and step-dad came down to visit. Our time in Ohio was so hectic it was nice to have some one-on-one time with them, and it also made our lives a bit less stressful at the holidays. Knowing that they were coming down relieved some of the pressure to squeeze in as much time as possible with them. While they were here we went to the aquarium with Landon for the first time. I was more focused on Landon's face the entire time then I was the fish. He was in such awe of everything around him, his eyes were wide and his mouth agape. We loved experiencing something new through his eyes.

I have to share one of my favorite recent things, it proves that Landon is growing on Vedder… I woke up and followed my normal routine, I padded groggily downstairs to warm up a bottle for Landon. Vedder wasn't in bed with Kev and I but I just assumed that he was sleeping under the bed like he usually does. However, when I came up the stairs I see him stretching as he comes out of Landon's room. He clearly had gone in there to sleep. It warmed my heart. I have a feeling eventually Kevin and I will loose our warm smuggler to a cute little boy.

Landon was being really cranky one Sunday so we decided we'd let him open a present. Clearly, we thought this will cheer him up! Here he is opening his very first present.

Vedder was the photographer for the day. He's available for hire. Please call 1-800-Sir-Vedder to book your next event.

The day after Landon opened his first present, I turn my back for two minutes and he's rolled over to the tree and attempted to open more presents. Addicted?

Enjoy the rest of the photo bomb...